Fued of the Brothers, Friendship of the Children
by BekCholie
Summary: Brothers, gods, enemies. Friends, cousins, enemies. So maybe there's a feud. Or at least was. Is? I digress, for as your Narrator, I shall reveal all in time. OC x OC. Apollo and Hermes have been fighting for eighteen years, and when a new prophecy rolls around, it just might end their silly war. Post-HoO. T for language. Apollo slightly OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Everyone claimed they were dead opposites.**

**And maybe they were right.**

**An Apollo child and a Hermes child?**

**Inconcievable.**

**Oh, how the idea was perceived by their siblings, I shall not tell.**

**Rather, I show.**

**I, dear readers, am a bystander. A writer.**

**While I am surely not our protagonist, I am not your antagonist either.**

**I'm simply a bystander.**

**And so for you, I share this story.**

* * *

**I suppose it would be best to start from the beginning, or at least, the tale of the beginning- for the event I begin with happened almost twenty years ago.**

**For this, readers, I was no witness. I only relay the story that was told to me from many sources. The story always changes, but I shall do my best to retell to you as if it were the truth. **

_*Eighteen years ago*_

"And if none of the rest of the council has anything to dis-" boomed the wise and powerful **(or so we say in our story, for he chooses not a side. Should we call Artemis or Ares wise and powerful, we would admit to taking sides- of which is not a good idea)** Lord Zeus.

"-I have something to say."

Surprised, the other gods stared in shock at Lord Apollo, for Apollo has rarely- if ever- spoken up at council meetings. Rather, he has left that to his older twin sister.

"Just last week, on Tuesday to be exact," Apollo's eyes narrowed and it seemed to the other gods that this would not be a pretty, sing-songy, poetic sentence he would thrust upon them.

And they trembled.

**(Okay, okay. So I'm exaggerating quite a bit. But a good story teller must be able to do so. We imply our beliefs and visuals.)**

Apollo continued, "I found that three of my prized cattle had gone missing, as well as many of my instruments from my domain."

"Well surely you are not offended form such an act, brother," mused Athena. "Your cattle have been stolen many times before, and yet it has not been such a big deal. You and Artemis are able to track down such thieves with ease."

"Normally, yes. Cattle are meaningless, as are the instruments stolen. But the thief stole something much more precious to me. The thief stole my laurel wreath."

"Laurel wreath? Easily replaced." Laughed Ares.

"Not _a _laurel wreath. _The_ laurel wreath. My first." This drew a sigh from Apollo. "Daphne's wreath."

"No." Aphrodite shook her head. "Who would steal your love's wreath?"

"Nobody but one who seek to have vengeance on me. But the deed itself, untraceable. My Lord Zeus, I have been unable to track the thief and I have tried numerous times whenever I have been able with no avail."

"Well, surely son," laughed Zeus. "You are no hunter. You're an archer and a poet. Do not expect to allow the forest to help you find a thief, have you sister do so."

"I did father." Said Artemis. "There was not a sign of burgerly except for the missing belongings."

"Surely this is a sign of a master thief's work." Apollo declared.

The other gods looked back and forth uneasily.

"Apollo," eased Demeter, "Think of what you imply. A master thief? True, we have seen many grand crimes committed on and from us gods, but to go so far as to claim this to be a _master thief-_"

"What you assume I imply is correct." Apollo cut off, his voice cold and clear. "I _do_ imply that one of our brothers has sent one of his sons to steal my belongings."

The room fell silent.

"Apollo." Came a shocked voice from Athena. "Surely not one of our own brothers?"

"Yes, Athena. Our own brother." Apollo glared and finally turned to the god he accused.

"Me?"

"Who else has thieves for sons?"

"Apollo, there have been many times when I think that you just might have lost your marbles but this time I think your really have."

"And who exactly else do you think is capable of finding the people able to do such deed?"

"Any of the minor gods, and they have even more reason than me."

"And what reason do you have?"

The two brothers **(I'll admit, dear readers, for you that the two brothers are actually half-brothers, just in case you were not aware of who we are speaking of just yet, and not aware of their relation. But their father- like many of the other gods'- is Zeus.)** glared at each other until Athena stood.

"Apollo, think. You accuse your brother, _our_ brother, of stealing one of the few things you hold precious and dear to you. What grounds do you have to accuse him other than that Artemis could not track the thief? Surely a hero could have stolen your laurels on their own."

"It is impossible for a hero to reach my domain with out help from a god. My domain is in the sky, and the most popular gift that _Hermes_ could give a hero to get to my domain are. _W__inged. Shoes._"

"This has gone far enough." Hermes stood. "I never sent any of my children to your domain. I have not given any of my children winged shoes in years. And I most certainly have no reason to steal your _ precious_ laurels."

"And what proof do you have that you didn't?"

* * *

**Dear readers, I fear that this is the point that our story, my retelling of the tale, becomes pointless. It only continues to tell more of arguing and blaming of the god Hermes of stealing Daphne's laurels. **

**Should you not be familiar with Daphne's laurels, I will not be surprised. It is rare that the tale of Apollo and Daphne mention them, but after Daphne, the nymph, was turned into a tree by her father to avoid Apollo's advances (and chase as well), Apollo trimmed off some leaves and branches from all over the tree and weaved them together into an everlasting laurel wreath. He treasured it, and long after Daphne's spirit and form died, the laurel lasted. **

**Aphrodite was in love with the idea of Apollo's love for a woman long dead, and held him in high respect because of it. So when sides had to be chosen among the gods, she sided with Apollo. Of course, so did Artemis, Ares (who wished to be on the same side as Aphrodite), and Demeter. **

**On Hermes side was Hera, Poseidon, and Hephaestus. **

**The others, Athena, Zeus, and Dionysus stayed out of the fight for different reasons. However, they chose not to take sides and they left Hermes' side sorely outnumbered, but powerful all the same.**

**And this information I leave in your hands and head, for it shall come in handy as our story progresses. **

**Me?**

**Why dear readers, I am not important- a witness, a bystander I told you.**

**My name?**

**Unimportant**** of course. I am a man, a story teller, and a writer. Nothing more, nothing less. **

**But if you must call me anything, than call me Narrator.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sadly, dear reader, few words can soothe the temper of the gods. **

**True, I must admit, that there are some- but few have the ability to use them.**

**I myself, was bestowed with this ability, but had I attempted to soothe my- um, the gods- than I may have caused more damage than possible. **

**So, I lead you towards the story of the girl- and the boy- that did propitiate the divine men.**

**To do so, I must send you back into the past to the story of a younger girl, no older than three. This is just five years after the heated argument between Hermes and Apollo, and she, readers, _is_ our protagonist. **

_*Thirteen Years Ago*_

"Astraea!" A woman's distressed voice echoed in the apartment.

"Astraea! Aster! Please, sweetheart, where are you?"

The woman, a young girl of twenty-two, frantically ran up and down the hallway of the apartment in Denver, Colorado. Almost to the point of breaking down in despair, a small giggle raised her hopes and she dashed to the nearest window to peer out at a young girl playing in the grass of the apartment building.

"Aster." Sighed the woman.

**This woman is named Hannah "Anna" Malcolm. Her father disowned her when she became pregnant at eighteen out of wedlock. She has no mother, and now no father. All she has left is the very child she bore that removed her from her family- the girl named Astraea in the apartment lawn. **

Hanna Malcolm climbed out of the window and onto the fire escape stairs, where she carefully climbed down to retrieve her daughter.

And greet Aster's father.

The fair haired man grinned when the woman approached and brushed her cheek with his thumb when he approached and scooped Aster up into his arms.

"She's getting really adventurous, Anna. Soon you won't be able to keep her in." He laughed.

Anna smiled gently. "I suppose. I just hope that she can stay safe when she's outside."

The man grimaced. "I don't know. My other daughters are being killed off constantly, and I know it's because of Hermes. He's been having fewer and fewer children as well."

Anna glared. "I do hope you're not targeting his _children_, Apollo. I understand that you'd be angry, but his children do nothing to deserve your hate."

Apollo rolled his eyes. "Besides being Hermes' spawn, than no, they haven't done anything to me. I have no reason to harm them." His face fell. "Even if I wanted to, there is no point. The Prophecy will come true whether or not I want it to, and I can't do anything to stop it." He petted his daughters golden curls. "I just hope that it's not Aster."

**And so such is the child we see in our story. True, she did not talk and, no, I do not know if she is a child of the prophecy. (In fact, her journey is not yet complete as we speak.)**

**So let us skip ahead a few years to Astraea as she entered first grade.**

"Anna, I don't know about this."

"Relax, Apollo, she'll be fine."

The god only grunted and crossed arms.

"Apollo," Anna soothed, "she_ will_ be fine. She can take care of herself, and she's too young for monsters to come for her."

He sighed and patted his unsuspecting daughter's head. She was quiet and focused on organizing her brand new markers and colored pencils in her pencil case, and could care less about her parents' conversation.

"I know. But I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Alright, Han Solo." Anna laughed. "Just go back to work, or visit your sons. I've got this covered."

The god nodded and turned out the door where he would soon disappear.

When her lover had finally left, Anna let her facade come down. Protecting Apollo was almost impossible- she could only hide her emotions.

In truth, she had a bad feeling too.

After Anna had no choice but to leave her daughter in the teacher's somewhat capable hands, Aster soon found herself isolated from the other students.

It was obvious she was different, even by the way she smiled and stared out the window. But the other kids naturally shied away from her, and formed integrated cliches that included everyone except her. There were, of course, other strange kids, but Aster seemed different even from them.

She scared them.

Few things can be explained or said, but it can be assumed the others had a feeling Aster was off.

And she was.

But not in the way that they thought she was.

She was thinking about the sunshine and chimeras and strange happenings that the others would not think about for many years, and only in school.

She cared less about the other children.

She cared less about her teacher.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ah, why hello to you too, Andronika23. I trust you are well? **

**And that, is the girl we follow for most chapters. Just a small little girl. **

**Well, she was small at the time. **

**She's not anymore. **

**It's been a few years. **

**I'm rambling. **

Days passed at school. Anna's forming gut feeling did not settle. Nor did Apollo's, but the worried parents were given no reason to worry that they knew of. Their daughter had no friends- not that Apollo was surprised, many godly children had these problems- and the teachers were impressed by her reading and writing abilities, but tried to help her in her struggle with most other subjects.

It all seemed relatively normal.

**Seemed. **

**"Seemed," my friends, is a strange, awkward word and one I particularly hate. It is very deceiving. **

**But I do love characters to be deceived in books. **

**It's quite fun, really. **

It was only a few weeks after Aster joined school that strange things began to happen.

At first, Aster thought she was imagining it, so didn't bother to have much concern about it.

She was beginning to see things.

**A common trait in demigods.**

Once she thought she saw a girl in her class with leaves on the back of her neck, like growing in them.

Another time she could have sworn a fifth grade boy had hooves for feet.

But worst of the moments, she could have sworn her teacher had scales.

After a week of seeing things, Aster was beginning to become upset.

Very upset.

These things were not natural, and they were continuing to pop up.

She could have sworn her teacher even _smelled_ around their table once as if to try and find a particular scent.

Like a dog.

**It was very concerning, no doubt, to have this happen. **

For the most part, she outwardly expressed no interest in what was happening.

Inside however, a part of her was scared, and another excited.

The excitement, the part of her that yearned for something to happen, was very strong and powerful in the young girl. This desire would almost override her desire to stay invisible in class. A few times, she would stop herself from crying out about these sights or to mention her suspicions about her teacher.

One day, at the end of class when the young children were being let out of school, Aster strayed behind, while her classmates waddled out alone.

Aster looked her teacher up in the eye, despite the height difference and frowned.

"Why do you look so strange?"

The teacher grinned.

"So you're the little sun child," she said. What was strange, however, was that it came out in a hiss.

Aster stared on, brave and possibly very ignorant to any danger that she was in.

"We've been looking for you for a long time." Her teacher smirked. "Oh, how lucky I was to find you first."

It was at this point that things started to click in young Aster's head.

This was not a good situation to be in.

Her teacher bent down and looked at Aster, nose to nose, and the girl noticed that her teacher's eyes were very yellow and very narrow, like a snake's.

"Thank you," she said, and opened her mouth wide to reveal fangs and an acid-like breath.

Aster took a step back, and just as her teacher lunged for her, she found her father standing in front of her.

The teacher wailed.

"Interference!" she cried angrily, shuffling to Apollo's side in attempt to reach for the child again.

"Maybe so, but this child is being protected not as my daughter, but as a child of a prophecy. The Fates have decided that it is not yet her time to die." He glared, and pointed to the door. "Leave."

The teacher hesitated. "Maybe you will not die today, but someday, young sun child, you will." With that, the teacher disappeared and never to be seen again by Aster.


End file.
